Bad Momma

OK, so the bright idea I had of blogging at least once a month was blown out of the water. So, now I will try to catch up over the next few weeks. The plan is to go back and try to get as many memories out of the pictures I have. I know, I know, it is better to blog or write as soon as you can after an event to get more details, but I am a bad momma, what can I say?!?

 

Just to catch up, since the storm we have been busy. We bought a new car (had to because Kevin's car was totaled in the storm), had two three birthdays, Sadie's pre-K graduation, fixed the roof and the siding (still waiting on the rain to stop long enough to fix the gutters) finished up my last year at my current school and now desperately trying to book our summer vacation.

 

I did manage to get the kiddos room cleaned yesterday. And by clean I mean DEEP CLEAN!!! I organized all of their clothes (not only by size, but also by season),  scrubbed the floors and baseboards, cleaned out toys (threw out two boxes full), straightened up and organized their book shelves and wiped down the fans. It took about two hours per room. I also decided they needed a change, so I "re-decorated" a little. (basically I moved the furniture around) But when Sadie came home, she couldn't have been happier, she was so excited to sleep in her "new bed."

 

So, what's to come? Birthday blogs, my favorite people blogs (I really liked the one on my dad, so I decided to do one on each of my favorite people), spring events and summer fun. I hope to get at least five done in the next few weeks. Wish me luck!!!

 

To end, here is a picture of our little family to remind myself that I will be back at the beach one of these days...

Mid Winter Break

So I am not sure what one does on "Mid-Winter Break." I mean Spring break, you normally head south, Christmas Break is for family as is Thanksgiving. We have made our fall break a time to spend at the beach as well, but not quite sure what to do for this break in February. I wish we could go skiing or something crazy, but it is not in our budget. So we spent most of the time in the house due to the rain.

Monday we went to see Nene and Mom and Poppy. My sister and nephew were off, so we got to see them as we'll. We were lucky enough to get to see my cousin and her little girl too.

 

These two are just too cute!!!

 

 

Sally got on the trampoline with the kids.

Tuesday was a busy one. Charlie actually spent Monday night with Nene and Poppy. I heard he was showing off his dance moves. Sadie had a dentist appointment. Man, that girl amazes me, she was a trooper, she hopped right up on that chair and did great!

 

 

After the dentist we headed north to meet my dad and pick up Charlie. Then off to meet Daddy for lunch! We found this cute little pizza place near his work. Yummy!!! Then we took a quick tour of the Super H Mart. If you have never been to the H Mart, you must go. It is a place of all things Asian, for the most part. There is an isle dedicated just to saki, an isle for rice, fish, fish and more fish and of course Kevin's favorite, all the Japaneese candy.


  

     



Thursday turned out to be beautiful, so we packed up and headed for the park.










 Sadie even made it up to the big slide. She is getting so brave!

 

The kids had a blast and they were wore out, so mommy got to take that long awaited nap.

Finally, Friday arrived and we were all excited when Daddy suprised us by taking the day off. Just wish the weather would have cooperated a little more, but none the less, we had a great time. Lunch at Shanes' Rib Shack and a little shopping.

Then it was the weekend, it finally cleared up by Sunday and we were all able to go out to the park. We fed the ducks  geese and played on the playground.

 

Sadie and Daddy trying to figure this thing out.

 

 Charlie and Daddy climbing up and down the stairs.

 

I want to feed the ducks!!! geese!!!

 

Charlie attempting to feed the ducks!  geese!!! Whatever!

 

 

I love this picture...Wait for me guys!!!

 



 Overall, we had a pretty good Mid Winter Break. Now we are ready for Spring Break!

Surviving the Storm

Monday's are always a little crazy around here. It is Sadie's dance class night, so I rush out of school to pick up the kids and rush home to get her ready. Leotard...check, tights...check, hair in bun...check!Now to pack a bag for Charlie. Snacks...check, toys...check, Mommy's iPad...check. All things to do while we wait for her to finish dance class. Well, this week was no different, until the rain hail came.

Not so pretty outside

OK, so over the weekend I finally broke down and went to the doctor, my ear had been killing me. Come to find out, mommy had an ear infection, go figure. So, I picked up the antibiotics on Sunday but forgot to get some yogurt. So Monday night I decide to drop Sadie off at dance class and run up to Publix to pick some up, it should just take a minute. We pull in the parking lot at Publix and it is getting DARK, looks like it is about to pour down rain. I look at Charlie and say, "OK buddy, we have to hurry. Are you ready?" He just looks at me, then he looks at the sky and points and says, "Rain?!"

We run inside, nothing but a little sprinkle right now, we should be just fine. I grab a buggy and we make a dash for the yogurt. Before I even get back there, my phone is ringing, it was Kevin.

"Where are you right now?" he asks.
"At Publix picking up the yogurt I told you about, why?"
"Stay there! Hail just busted through my window!"
 "WHAT?!? OMG!!!"

Yeah, so about this time, we hear it. First just a PING, then BANG...BANG, BANG, BANG...WOW! It was crazy!!! Charlie is looking at me like, what the heck is that?!? I just stand there frozen for a bit listening, waiting, thinking...OMG, Sadie is at dance class all alone! I pray she is ok.
By this time, I realize I have to get to her as soon as I can. Then we have to get home to Daddy. I go up front to pay and we wait in the lobby of Publix long enough for the hail to stop and we make a break for it. I load up Charlie, make a quick assessment of my car, nothing broken, good, so we race back to the dance studio.

Thank God Sadie was just fine. The teachers got all the girls in the dressing room and told them there were people tap dancing on the roof. She thought it was hilarious. I am so glad she was ok and wasn't scared at all. I get my phone out and start looking at the weather. OK, I decide, here we go, looks like a little break before we get hit again. So we load up and head home. The closer we get to our house, the more branches and hail we see. I point to Sadie, "Look out the window, see all that white stuff? That is what was falling from the sky, that is what was making all that noise!" She was amazed.

Finally we pull into the driveway and I see it... Kevin's car had about five softball size holes in his back glass. Then I see the house, there are huge chunks of siding missing, window screens torn and limbs all over the front yard that we had just cleaned. Kevin comes to the car to help us out and we all get inside. LOTS of hugs at this point. We were all glad everyone was safe, even though we were not together when it happened.

I have heard that there was such a thing as baseball/softball sized hail, but never imagined I would see it or what kind of damage it can cause. This is serious stuff. Scary stuff. Here are some pictures of some of the damage. Again, we are just thankful everyone is ok.

One Kevin grabbed from the front yard, not even one of the biggest ones.

Kevin's back glass, can't see the hood or the roof, but they are bad too.

Grill cover destroyed

 

Sadie saw their play set and said, "Now I am mad at the storm!"

Pots broken

About an hour after the storm, mostly melted but still pretty big.

Some of the siding damage

Windows

Windows, the outside glass is broken here and a few other places.

Gutters

More siding

More windows

Oh yeah, and then we found this...a baby snake. He didn't make it. 

 I don't think we can claim him on our insurance though.

 

 

Now the fun begins, dealing with the insurance company.

Poppy

For those of you that don't know my dad, he is a pretty handy guy. Now don't get me wrong, my husband can rebuild a car engine and fix most anything I need him to, I mean who else do you know that carves their pumpkin with an electric drill, more on that later. But he hates anything to do with wood. Granted he is currently building our new deck, a project almost 8 months in the making, but he hates working with wood. I think it is all the measuring and tiny cuts and whatever else is associated with wood.  But he does it for his family. Did I mention he hates working with wood?!?

Ok, now back to my dad. My dad loves working with wood. He has built and painted and fixed up a ton of cool stuff for us and the kids and I just wanted to share some of what he has done.

 

 

 

Here is a table that one of his neighbors was going to get rid of. He asked if we would be interested in having it, I mean a free Ethan Allen, sure right?!? Honestly, at first I thought if he is literally giving away this table it must be pretty bad off. But my dad said he thought he could fix it up nice, so I said sure why not. This is what we got.

 

 

 

Beautiful isn't it? He sanded and stained the top and then painted and distressed the legs and chairs. Turned out awesome! Not bad for free. There are two leaves that go in it, but there is only one in these pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next piece is one he did on his own. I wanted some sort of server or buffet in the dining room. I gave him some ideas and we exchanged some picures and this is what we got.

 

 

It is cherry wood, which I hated to paint, but I really wanted it to be a distressed black. He got a great deal on the wood from a friend. It turned out great! I love it! And again, handmade by my dad and best of all free!

 

 

 

This next one was one of the highlights of Christmas. I had seen a picture on Pinterest and sent my dad the link. This was only a few weeks before Christmas and I wasn't sure if he would have time, but I thought maybe for Charlie's next birthday or something. (Thank God he is retired.) He had all the parts in the basement and had it together in no time.

 

 

Charlie and Sadie love it and play with it almost daily. There was only one problem...CHC, my 13 year old nephew, was upset that he never had one. He just didn't have a mom quite like me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poppy also did several pieces for Sadie's room. A window seat/ toy box and the window frame/ shelf with her name on it. (do you see the bird house? Yeah, that is what my husband makes does to wood)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The table and chairs were mine, they have been in the family for like 80 years or more. Again he painted them up and they are as good as new. She has even added her own stickers to them to prove they are hers.

 

Family Tea party at the table. Pirates, princesses and daddy's welcome!

 

 

For Charlie's room, I told Poppy I wanted a toy chest for him as well. Being quite the thrifty shopper that he is, he found this one at Goodwill. It was cheaper than buying the wood to make a new one. So he painted it to go in his room. (it is currently in the dining room because there is little spare room in Charlie's room, but once the rocking chair comes out, the chest will go in)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last one is another one of my favorites. This is not one my father made, but his father made for him. The Rocking Horse! It was originally made, as I mentioned earlier,  in the 1940's by my grandfather, who I never had the opportunity to meet. The original colors were yellow and red. So my dad painted it to go with Charlie's decor and fixed the tail and this is what we got.

 

Before (Here is Sadie in 2009)

 

After Poppy finished it 2012

 

So, I finish by saying what a great family I have. I am so lucky to have such a talented father that is so good to us. Thanks Dad a.k.a. Poppy, for all you have done. We love you!!!

 

Almost Party Season

So it is a little over a month before Charlie's second birthday and I have already been on Pinterest for hours just looking for ideas. I have to remind myself I am not the artsy fartsy type and can only do so much. I do love to throw a good party, but he is only 2. So, what does he like? He likes whatever is in front of him. He is not that "IN" to anything. Well actually he is IN to everything!

Charlie

But here were some of the ideas that I got and liked.

1. The Digger Birthday Party: This was really cute and probably my favorite. Looks pretty easy with a printer, a few pounds of dirt, a few shovels and a truck or two, it could be pretty cool.



2. The Robot And Rockets Party I think this is a little over the top for me, but there are some cute ideas. Cute theme and easy enough.


3. Construction Site Party This was cute as well, I love the trucks for serving pieces as well as the names she came up with for all the food.


4. The Elmo Themed party- no link or great ideas here, just he does love "Momo" This still might be an idea. I have seen some cute cupcakes done up to look like little Elmo's. Still not sure.


5. Dinosaur Train - again no link here, just some thoughts. He loves the show, and they have stuff we can buy pretty easily. We could do a Dino Dig or something with a train, not sure...



6. Trains- he has been playing a lot with his train he got for Christmas lately. This could be a good idea. Get some old boxes and paint them up. Wait a minute, this might be fun. I see my crafty side trying to emerge.


Ok, so the ideas are out there, now if I could just decide. I need to order invitations soon, so I better get on this. And just as soon as I am done with his, it is already time to plan hers...